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XIA05.5
"I can't trace it," he said to nobody in particular. "I don't know where they went." "We'll track them down," said Superman. "You don't understand. They could be anywhere in time or space. Unless I can find the source of that corridor, and track them from there with the TARDIS, I'll never find them." "Then we'll trace the corridors back to their source," said Batman. "It isn't that easy," said the Doctor. "I'm sorry," said a new voice. "I'm afraid I'm lost." Superman flew up the wall and landed on the plaza. The Doctor turned round and saw that the new voice belonged to a teenage boy. Batman climbed up and stood beside the Doctor as Superman approached the boy. The boy was sitting on the floor, a box in front of him and some cylinder clasped in his right hand. As Superman got close to him, the boy flipped the heavy metal lid of the box open. Suddenly, Superman doubled over, screaming. Batman and the Doctor both stepped forward to help but paused. Their eyes focused on the little boy. It was... Adric, the Doctor saw. Adric, curled up on the floor, a shouting Cyberman towering over him and brandishing a gun... Jason, the Batman saw. Jason Todd, curled up on the floor, the Joker laughing above him and brandishing a gun... But it was OK. Adric had a gun himself. Jason had a gun himself. The boy could protect himself. "Use the gun!" shouted Batman. "Shoot him!" shouted the Doctor. Neither knew what they were saying. The teenage boy raised the syringe, pointed it at the struggling Superman. He glanced to the shadows at the edge of the plaza, waited for Talia's signal. She gave it. "It couldn't be Adric!" the Doctor mumbled to himself. "He sacrificed his life back in the dawn of time to..." "I don't know how the Joker is doing this, he's already killed Jason, unless..." Something strange began to occur, the single image that was seen differently from two perceptions began to split apart.... The Doctor could see both Adric and another boy in a ragged circus costume very similar to Robin's, the boy himself was raggid and beaten to a pulp. Behind him was a clownish man with a sinister looking smile, pasty white face and green hair wielding an obnoxiously long looking gun. Batman could see Jason, all beaten and bloody, and a second, intelligent looking young man. Behind him was a tall silver cybernetic man, with the only human looking features left were the general shape of a man encased in a metal shell. Both boys were holding the gun, which was now duplicated exactly. "Kill the boy!" the Doctor and Batman cried in unison before looking at each other in bewilderment. Adric turned to Jason, Jason turned to Adric, they each fired the needle containing the Kryptonite serum into each other. "You fools!" Talia roared out. "The serum will do nothing to you!" That's when things began to get weird, each boy began to glow intensely, as the serum shot through their blood they began to glow and grow. They then turned to each other and began to grab at each other. "Not HIM!" both Batman and the Doctor cried out in unison. Again they looked at each other. "They's killin my friend Sooperman!" A great hulking figure wearing a dirty blue shirt with a jaggedly cut "S" sewn onto the front, dove past Batman and the Doctor. "Uh..." the Doctor stammered. "Bibbo, NO!" Batman cried, as Bibbo slid behind the two battling boys, slammed the lid to the box closed and rushed back the way he came. "Who is that idiot?" the Doctor asked. "Just about the luckiest idiot alive, and too much to explain right now." By this point, the two boys, and their tormenters behind them, has merged into one hulking figure who fell to the ground, as if it were dead. "Bibbo save Sooperman for ye." Bibbo handed Batman the box containing the Kryptonite. "Thanks, I think." "What has happened?" Talia was at the verge of tears before she disappeared, leaving the hulking body lay where it fell, and taking Jed, who was standing there taunting Superman, who still lay on the ground half- conscious. "Darkseid will not be pleased by this, he will not be pleased by this at all!" "Sooperman, you okay?" Bibbo held out his hand to help Superman up. "Yeah," Superman slowly got up to his feet, holding his head as he did. "But what are you doing here?" "I dunno, first thing Bibbo remembers is serving beers to a coupla locals, y'know?" "Yeah." "Next thing I knows, is I'm standin' here watching dat kid open dat box of Kryptonite, y'know?" "Yeah." "So I decides ta take action, and do somethin' fer my pal Sooperman, who has always been dere when I needs him da most." "Well thanks," Superman patted Bibbo on the back, then slowly approached the figure on the ground. "Superman, no!" Batman called out, but Superman was already leaning over the body. "UNGH!" Superman cried out, as he jumped back several yards. "Sooperman, look!" Bibbo pulled the needle out of the figure and held it up for Superman to see. "Kryptonite," Superman tried to examine it with his X-Ray Vision from where he was, but the lead casing blocked a full analysis. "How'd they get it in a liquid form though, and how did it do what it did to the boys?" We can get back to your lab and find out," The Doctor suggested. "Well, you can anyway. I want to try to track down Nyssa and Tegan." "Fine, but take Superman with you, I think he can prove to be quite valuable." "NO!" Superman stated. "Why?" "Because if that creature is not as dead as it appears, I may be the only one who can stop it." Superman began to fly away. "Where are you going?" Batman asked. "Don't worry, I'll probably be back here before you know I'm gone, and if he comes around, just keep him contained." Superman flew due north. "No wonder Superman works alone," Batman spun around to the Doctor, "he moves around so fast it's hard to keep up with him!" "I can be of some help to you mistah," Bibbo suggested. "I dunno." The Doctor shrugged for a moment, looked at Batman who only shrugged, then back to Bibbo. "I have a feeling that I'm going to regret this, but -- come along." "Thanks, mister. Say, what do I call ye?" "I am known as 'The Doctor'." "Doctor Who?" "Just call me Doctor." "The Name's Bibbowaski, you ever hear of 'The Great Bibbowaski'?" "The boxer?" "Yeah." "Of course, that Bibbo!" "HUH?" "I was at your last fight, you were doing good, but your opponent took you by surprise and knocked you down... hard, and..." "Go on, says it, it did some damage upstairs," Bibbo tapped his finger on his forehead. "Now all I's good fer is serving up drinks at a two-bit bar." "I wouldn't know about THAT!" "So what are we lookin' fer?" "There was what you would call a "Boom Tube" that snatched up two of my friends, Superboy and Robin." "A 'Boom Tube', huh?" Bibbo smiled. "Well, even though they cans take ye almost any place ye want it to in a flash, there are two general places they connect to." "There are?" "New Genesis and Apokolips." "How is it you know so much?" "Ye don't think I runs dat two-bit bar fer nothin' does ye? People comes ta da bars, people talks, Bibbo lissens. Sometimes, it's people plannin' a bank robbery, sometimes..." "I get the picture." "Where are we?" asked Tegan, as she, Nyssa, Superboy and Robin were all being dragged by chains down a long walkway with flames shooting up on both sides. "Hell, I would assume," Nyssa suggested. "Don't consider yourself lucky," Superboy said. "Hell is a vacation next to this place," Robin added. "Why don't one of you two 'heroes' do something here?" Tegan cried out. "How?" Robin asked. "Use your powers, maybe?" Nyssa suggested. "Lessee, I have no powers, except for slightly accelerated strength," Robin said. "And even though I am a clone of Superman, my powers come from outside sources, all of which were taken from me the moment we arrived." "Oh," Nyssa moaned, looking up to see an eight-foot tall stone-featured man standing there. "We're dead." "DON'T CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY!" the eight-foot high stone-featured man roared out. As he clasped his hands behind his back, his eyes glowing red. Superman was at the Fortress of Solitude for one thing, and one thing alone, the Kryptonian Battle-Suit, he knew that the suit would be able to at least partially shield him from the Kryptonite that was running through the creature's blood. He also knew that as dead as the creature appeared to be, it was going to come too and do whatever the Kryptonite gave him the power to do. In a flash, he was in the Battle-Suit and flying south towards Brigstone Beach, on the southern tip of Gotham City. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the bald-headed man laughed out. "I came here on a small piece of business, and now I may be a witness to the creation of the one thing that can destroy Superman! I have got to get control of it, but with Batman standing guard over it until Superman gets back, it'll be hard." A thin smile came to Luthor's face. "I need a diversion, but what?" Luthor glanced around the street for a brief moment, and spotted the Batmobile. "Of course," Luthor pulled a small device out of his pocket and placed it around where he thought the gas-tank should be. The device exploded, setting off a few car alarms around the Batmobile, but the Batmobile sat there unscratched, and kept the explosion contained in a pocket of shielding. "What the--?" Luthor looked shocked. "You'll have to do better than that Luthor!" Batman didn't even turn to face Luthor, but pulled out one of his batarangs and tossed it, a long rope was emitted and tied Luthor's arms together tight, until the Police apprehended him. "You promise not to tell anybody about what you're going to see?" the Doctor asked Bibbo. "Hey, Bibbo sees lots of things he's probably not supposed ta see." "Don't worry, it's more of a precaution because it contains technology that's still far beyond what man presently has, and if..." "Yeah, yeah. Bibbo's heard it all before from even Sooperman." Bibbo looked at the tall Blue Police Box. "What's so special 'bout an old fashon'd Police Box anyways?" "Step inside." The Doctor gently nudged Bibbo into the TARDIS. "He-e-y, 'dis is nice, a little plain, but nice." Bibbo looked around the inside of the TARDIS. "Bibbo has a question for ye though, how'd ye make it bigger on the inside than on the outside?" "It's the technology of my people," the Doctor gave the brief explanation. "Wow!" Bibbo sighed. "How big is it on the inside?" "As big or as small as I want it to be, some of the corridors go on for miles." "Hey, we better go and rescue your friends." "Which planet should we try first?" "You askin' Bibbo?" "Forget it," The Doctor reached out to the controls, flipped a coin and pressed a set of switches that directed them to... The creature that was once Adric and Jason Todd (with an equal mix of the Joker and a Cyberman) began to stir. It stood up to its feet, steadied its balance and looked around. "Where is Superman?" the Creature roared, with a human/robotic voice. "Right here!" Superman hit at the creature from behind, knocking it forward. "By the way, you have me at a disadvantage. You know who I am, but I don't know who you are." "You may call me "The Kryptonite Kid", because I have pure Kryptonite running through my veins." The Kryptonite Kid held out his hands and fired a shot of pure Kryptonite energy at Superman. "Can't touch me!" Superman said, as the energy bounced off of his armored suit. "That was just a demonstration!" The Kryptonite Kid turned up the juice, and again the energy on, this time at full blast, ripping the Battle-Suit off like it were made out of paper. "Oh, no," Superman cried, as pure Kryptonite energy was being fired at Superman again and again. "That suit was supposed to be my ace against him." "Die, Superman. DIE!" One more blast was shot out, there was a loud blood-curling scream from Superman and a moment later Superman's cape floated down into a stunned Batman's arms. }}